Tim, just for the sake of clarity, are all those gods actually separate? I was raised Christian and taught that the Hebraic god simply had many names (and my church had them all printed on banners which would occasionally be marched down the aisle to triumphant music).

I think defining gods by their names doesn't make a lot of sense. If instead you define them by what the various religions say about their attributes and personality, then clearly not only do the Christians, Muslims, and Jews worship distictly different gods, but there are additional distinctions to be made in terms of the various sects subsumed under each of those religions.

Ample evidence exists that there was NOT a global flood! I have listed a great deal of it on the below thread, and have no intention of taking my time to bring it over here, just to watch you try to squirm out of it - seen one theist squirm, seen 'em all --

You misunderstand the term "atheist". Being an atheist means you don't believe there is a god, not that you know there isn't. We feel very confident about it, however (most of us). Just like you are confident Santa doesn't really exist. You're not really worried he's watching you or going to pass over you on Christmas if you're naughty... but you also can't prove he absolutely does not exist.

I'm confused. I thought that theists believe that god is the cause of everything? If so, theism is the claim of ultimate knowledge (or belief of ultimate knowledge if you prefer). Theism is the positive belief; it offers an explanation for all that is or will be. It is the theist who must prove their extraordinary claim. Atheists are just people who aren't theists. If you (the collective you) did not first claim there is a god, there would be no need to assert that the evidence for such a claim is lacking and that a god is highly improbable. This is why there are no a-unicornists even though there are people who find it improbable that unicorns exist. In my opinion, atheism is a skeptical position, not a belief and not claim of knowledge.

How can someone be an atheist? To say there is no God, you would have to have complete knowledge of the universe and everything outside of it to say there is no God.

@ Dave - Well for starters, the Bible says this God you believe in is love and is good, but it also says he created life and he knew the life he created would have the possibility and potential to suffer a great deal due to whatever whatever reason.

The reason does not matter to me because your Bible says he went ahead and created life anyway. It would have been better for him to go find something else to do to bide his time then create creatures with such a great capacity for suffering. If such a God existed and was good, he would not have created life and risked his creations having to suffer so much, whether they believed in him or not because even Christians suffer in this life.

Your God is a contradiction in terms right off the bat. Why do I need to know anymore than that? You cannot believe two contradictory ideas at the same time but that is what you God asks you to do. If your God does exist he is not good, but a sadistic bastard. But don't worry, I don't think he is a sadistic bastard because I don't believe he exists.